As I sat down to write the final newsletter for 2014, it didn’t hardly seem possible

that there were only five more Monday’s left this year! I hope you have had a great

2014!

I was searching the internet for some great quote to set the tone for this newsletter

but when nothing stood out for me, I remembered the old saying that sometimes

“less is more.” So with that thought in mind, I just want to express my sincere

gratitude for the many blessings we have had in 2014.

I-REACH 2 has an outstanding staff, strong community support, solid board l

eadership, amazing families and case managers we work with, and in the hub of the

wheel; our incredible people we are so fortunate to serve.

My best to you in 2015!

Tina Conley Executive Director

From the Director’s Chair

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 24—Day Services closing at 2:pm

December 25—Closed

January 1st—Closed

Cash Handling Policy 2

Employment First 2

Respite Services 2

Planned Giving 3

Person Centered Planning 3

2014 Year in Pictures 4

Day Services 5

Inside this issue:

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Fall 2014

2014 quite possibly will be remembered as the year of “waiver redesign.”

We had participants take substantial cuts to their Individual Budget Amount (IBA)other individuals saw reductions in the number of hours they would be able to attend services under the new billing structure, and other individuals remained virtually unchanged.

From a provider perspective, the redesign has posed challenges for us as well.

For example, in order for us to continue to provide Supported Employment services or Community Integration services we now must meet additional training requirements

for our staff. Yet no additional money was allocated for these additional requirements.

I-REACH 2 is fortunate in that we were able to utilize our fundraising dollars to provide the training to 5 staff to ensure we maintain our certifications to continue to provide these services..

However, like everyone else who has had to adopt changes to meet new waiver changes ,we do as well.

EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1ST 2015 OUR NORMAL OF-FICE HOURS WILL CHANGE FROM 7:30-4:30 TO 8:00 TO 4:00.

This change was approved by our Board of Directors at their Oct. 21, 2014 meeting.

Please feel free to contact Tina for further information. Thank you for your understanding

OFFICE HOURS CHANGING JANUARY 1ST 2015

I-REACH 2 Inc. Cash Handling Policy We would like to remind our program guardians and participants of our Cash Handling policy. Please feel free to contact Tina with any questions or

concerns.

It is the policy of I-REACH 2, Inc. , that there will no more than $50.00 each kept on site for any participant in our residential services. If at any time, any participant has an amount over the $50.00, that money will be documented and taken to 1st Interstate

Bank of Casper and placed in the safety deposit box

rented by I-REACH 2, Inc

In order to continue to pro-vide access to community-based activities that cost money the following options are made available for indi-viduals in our day programs. OPTION 1: Program guardians/payees will provide the money nec-essary for their individual to attend the outings noted on the activity calendar and

I-REACH 2, Inc. I-REACH 2 will not handle these funds whatsoever. We will assist the individual in ob-taining a receipt and reminding them to take the receipt to their guardian/payee. OPTION 2: Program guardians/payees who are not comfortable with sending money with their Individual will sign a preapproval form that will allow their Individual to attend activities not to exceed $35.00 month. At the end of the month the Business Manager, will invoice program

cles, etc.

The following two links provide further information of the Em-ployment First initiative in our state.

WY Legislation (passed): En-rolled Act No. 54, Employment First Legislation, enacted July 1, 2014 - http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2014/Enroll/HB0073.pdf

WY DD Council Legislative Platform: 2013 Wyoming Gover-nor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities Legislative Platform calling for implementation of Employment First policies - http://ddcouncil.state.wy.us/CouncilPlatform13.pdf

Over the past decade, the concept of Employment First – the idea that employment in integrated settings within the community should be the priority service option - has emerged in the disability field. The result has been ongoing development of a multitude of documents pertaining to Employment First, including state legislation, policies, reports, arti-

policies to prepare employee work schedules two weeks in advance.

Since respite services require us to provide additional staff in our residential sites or other community locations we need the 2 week lead time to ensure we are staffed per our state requirements.

We would like to take this moment to remind everyone who utilizes Respite Services through I-REACH 2 that we need a minimum of 2 weeks notice in order to provide respite services .

This is due to the fact we are required by the Behavior Health Division as well as our own staffing

If you are going to be needing respite services during the upcoming holiday season it is imperative that you contact as soon as possible.

Page 2

What is Employment First?

Scheduling Respite Services

F A LL/WI NT ER NEW SLET T E R

Benefits of Your Bequest Receive estate tax charitable de-

duction. Lessen the burden of taxes on your

family. Leave a lasting legacy.

How Do You Make a Bequest? A bequest is one of the easiest gifts to make. With the help of an advisor, you can include language in your will or trust specifying a gift to be made to family, friends or I-REACH 2 Inc. as part of your estate plan.

Your Bequest Options A bequest may be made in several ways:

Gift of a percentage of your estate Gift of a specific dollar amount or

asset Gift from the balance or residue of

your estate

Making a Bequest of Your Retirement Assets A retirement asset, such as an IRA account, makes an excel-lent bequest to us. If the IRA were given to your family, much of the value may be lost through estate and income taxes. By designating I-REACH 2 Inc. as the beneficiary of all or part of your IRA (using a beneficiary designation form provided by your custodian), the full value of the gift is transferred tax-free at your death and your estate receives an estate tax charitable deduction. **please consult your tax advisor regarding planned giving activities.

process, directed by the family or the individual with long term care needs, intended to identify the strengths, capacities, preferences, needs and desired outcomes of he individual. The family or individual directs the family or

person-centered planning process. The process includes participants freely chosen by the family or individual who are able to serve as important contributors. The family or participants in the person-centered planning process enables and assists the individual to identify and access a personalized mix of paid and non-paid services and sup-ports that will assist him/her to achieve personally-defined outcomes in the most inclusive

A renewed focus of the Medicaid Waiver redesign is Person-Centered Planning, but exactly what does this term mean?

Person-centered planning reaches beyond service planning to help friends and supporters understand an individual’s needs and prefer-ences and plan for a positive fu-ture. It is not a new idea; it has been around for almost 20 years.

The Centers for Medicare and Med-icaid Services (CMS), the federal Medicaid agency, has highlighted person-centered planning and is promoting its use through Home and Community Based Services Waivers. CMS describes person-centered planning this way:

“Person-centered planning is a

community setting. The individual identifies planning goals to achieve these personal outcomes in collaboration with those that the individual has identified, including medical and professional staff. The identified personally-defined outcomes and the training supports, therapies, treatments, and or other services the individual is to receive to achieve those outcomes becomes part of the plan of care.”

While I-REACH 2 has consistently embraced person-centered plan-ning, we too, are renewing our fo-cus in this area. We will be asking that individuals attend their plan of care meetings and working with participants and families to create meaningful and realistic goals and opportunities for everyone.

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Planned Giving 101. Giving to I-REACH 2 Inc. can be done either directly or through a gift model that can provide tax

benefits and even income .

Person Centered Planning

Page 4

2014 in pictures

F A LL/WI NT ER NEW SLET T E R

Our day services program recently received a very generous donation of a Nikon DSLR camera. We have decided to put it to good use and begin teaching our program participants the fine art of photography! We are blessed by this generous gift. In conjunction with our photography classes we will be using the photos we take and designing custom-made greeting cards. This project is in the early stages of development but the photo on the right is an example of the types of cards we will be designing. These cards will be featured at our annual fundraiser in the summer of 2015 as well as being available for purchase on our web site.

Please watch our upcoming newsletters, Facebook and web-site for updates on this project.

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Day Services News and Updates

Employee Anniversaries July through December

July August September October December

Jackie Ford

3 years

Rob Arrowood

5 years

Sandy Alexander

3 years

Christina Burk

9 years

Donna Madsen

11 years

Alaura Garriott

8 years

Barb Maluchnik

3 years

Selena Gabriel

1 year

Allen

McConnell

5 years

Danita Keating

1 year

Shae Sonsoucie

2 years

Mai Kou Thao

3 years

Eric Van Tassel

3 years

Thank you for all you

do! We couldn’t do it

without you!!

legislative issues and give you tools to

advocate effectively. There will be an

update from the Behavioral Health

Division on the waiver redesign imple-

mentation, an important session on

Advocacy 101 conducted by one of

Wyoming's most influential lobbyists,

and Steve Bahmer, Executive Director

of Wyoming Community Service

Providers will brief attendees on legis-

lative issues, challenges, and strategies.

When: Tuesday, January 6, 2015

9:00 am- 4:00 pm (lunch included)

Where: Holiday Inn, Cheyenne

There is no cost to attend but you must

register by January 1, 2015.

A room block has been set up at the

Holiday Inn. Rooms are $99 per night

plus tax. To make your reservation call

the Holiday Inn and ask for the room

rate for the Wyoming Community

Service Providers. 307-638-4466

Join the Wyoming Community Service

Providers for a one day educational

event designed to update you on key

legislative issues and give you tools to

advocate effectively. There will be an

update from the Behavioral Health

Division on the waiver redesign im-

plementation, an important session on

Advocacy 101 conducted by one of

Wyoming's most influential lobbyists,

and Steve Bahmer, Executive Director

of Wyoming Community Service Join

the Wyoming Community Service

Providers for a one day educational

event designed to update you on key

I-Reach 2 Inc. Seeks Board Members

Are you passionate about helping others? Interested in becoming a leader in an innovative non-profit 501 (c)3 organization? I-Reach 2 Inc. is looking new Board Members with experience in a variety of areas (Nonprofit, Developmental Disabilities, Finance, Law, Public Relations, Fund Raising/ Development,) who have a have proven

leadership skills and a commitment to provide mission focused govern-ance. All positions are volunteer, but the rewards are immeasurable. To learn more about how you can help and get involved, please contact Tina Conley, Executive Director by calling 265-8086, or by email at admin@ireach2.org.

In addition, if we need to supply your

entity a W-9 for tax purposes, just give

us a call.

If you are currently planning your 2015

charitable giving, we hope we can

count on you to include us in those

plans!

I-REACH 2 Inc. is a federally

recognized 501(c)3 charity. Our federal

tax ID is 72-1525048.

We strive to ensure all donors receive a

receipt of their donation.

If we inadvertently missed sending you

a receipt please don’t hesitate to call

either Tina Conley or Jo DePaolo and

we will issue you a receipt promptly.

Page 6

Effective Advocacy Training

Board Members Needed:

Attention I-REACH 2 Inc. Donors!!!

Learn how to let your voice be heard!

F A LL/WI NT ER NEW SLET T E R

V OLU ME 1, ISS UE 1

Page 7

2014 Agency Wish list

Vacuums

Pots and pans

Small kitchen gadgets

Barbeque grill

Table and floor lamps

Card stock/blank greeting cards

Old/vintage jewelry that can be repurposed

Paper Shredders

Living room furniture

1639 East E. Street

PO Box 1060

Evansville, WY 82636

I -REACH 2 I NC.

Phone: 307-265-8086

Fax: 307-472-5588

E-mail: admin@ireach2.org

Providing premier services that promote quality of life,

independence, and ability!

We’re on the web!

www.ireach2.org